1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer generated lists, and more particularly to the selection of list items from a menu displayed on a computer display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most current human-computer interfaces for personal computers or workstations (such as a PC desktop or Power Mac® G5) offer users a graphical user interface (GUI). A GUI typically runs on an operating system (e.g., Windows® XP, Mac OS® X, or GNU/Linux) and allows users to easily interact with the computer using tools such as a keyboard, mouse, or trackball. However, with an increasing number of programs, documents, and data available to users, GUI designers strive to provide users with simple, accurate methods for selection from a list of alternatives.
GUI's today, such as Windows® XP, attempt to be helpful by remembering users' past interactions with the GUI. For example, GUI's can display, in a pull-down list, the most recently accessed documents and programs. Users can make a selection from the list, such as by using a mouse or cursor keys, and then continue with their work. Furthermore, in certain programs, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer® 6, the GUI automatically displays to users previously visited websites as well as previously made entries for fields associated with particular forms. As another example, a GUI from SAP of Waldorf, Germany (“SAPGUI”) automatically displays previous entries for particular fields. The need for a user to enter or recall the full entry associated with a particular field can be eliminated if the same entry had already been previously made.
Again using the SAPGUI as an example, a selection list 10 in the SAPGUI displays a historical list of previous entries for the “Database table” field 12 in a pull-down menu as seen in FIG. 1. The selection list 10 is limited by only displaying previous entries with the same prefix as to what is being entered by the user: e.g., “P” 14 in this case. Entries are listed by placing most recently used entries prior to older entries for that particular field.
In FIG. 2, a selection list 16 in the SAPGUI displays a historical list of previous entries for the “Database table” field 12. This selection list 16 is further limited by only displaying previous entries with the same prefix as to what is being entered by the user: “ps” 18 in this case. Entries, again, are listed by placing most recently used entries prior to older entries for that particular field.
In FIG. 3, a selection list 20 in the SAPGUI displays a historical list of previous entries for names with the same prefix as what is being entered (i.e., “Pete” 22) for a particular field. Entries are listed by placing most recently used entries prior to older entries for that particular field. Finally, in FIG. 4, the SAPGUI displays no selection list 24 for a particular field. Because no previous entries match what is being newly entered, no previous entries will be displayed in the selection list for that particular field.
Microsoft Internet Explorer®, as illustrated in FIG. 5, displays another form of how entries made by users can be displayed in a selection list 26. The Microsoft Internet Explorer® GUI displays a historical list of previously visited websites with the same prefix 28 as what is being entered by a user in the “Address” field 30. However, unlike the SAPGUI where entries are listed by placing most recently used entries prior to older entries for that particular field, entries in Microsoft Internet Explorer® are displayed in alphabetical-numerical order.
A problem that frequently arises is that the system stores and displays all previous entries matching what is being entered without regard as to whether the previous entries are correct. For example, in systems of related art, when a user inputs an entry beginning with a “P,” all previously stored entries prefixed with a “P” will be displayed alphabetically and/or numerically in the selection list, even if they were incorrectly entered (e.g., misspelled). Furthermore, incorrect entries may appear first in the selection list leading the user to potentially select the incorrect entry.
Though not all systems allow users to manually delete incorrect entries from the historical file, some systems do. In the systems that do allow for manual deletion, deletion is typically only available to advanced users. Even then, manual deletion by the advanced users often requires multiple steps that could easily lead to user-error.
Another solution to delete incorrect entries is by automated deletion triggered when a history log reaches a threshold memory size. For example, the system may delete entries beginning with the oldest entries. As a result, entries that are unused or have not been used for a certain period will typically be deleted. However, correct entries may also be deleted simply based on their age or the size of the history log and not based on their correctness.
A more desirable solution would be a system that could determine the correctness of the entries and preferably automatically delete entries with a high probability of being incorrect.